LIBERTY COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) - A U.S. Army soldier has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for attempting to assist the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) conduct a deadly ambush on U.S. troops, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday. Cole Bridges, also known as Cole Gonzales, 24, of Stow, Ohio, was sentenced to 168 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to murder U.S. military service members, based on his efforts to assist ISIS to attack and kill U.S. soldiers in the Middle East, according to the DOJ. Bridges pleaded guilty to terrorism charges on June 14, 2023. According to court documents, Bridges joined the U.S. Army in approximately September 2019 and was assigned as a cavalry scout in the Third Infantry Division based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. Before he joined the Army, beginning in at least 2019, the DOJ says Bridges began researching and consuming online propaganda promoting jihadists and their ideology, and began to express his support for ISIS and jihad on social media. In or about October 2020, approximately one year after joining the Army, the DOJ says Bridges began communicating with an FBI online covert employee (the OCE), who was posing as an ISIS supporter in contact with ISIS fighters in the Middle East. During these communications, officials say Bridges expressed his frustration with the U.S. military and his desire to aid ISIS. The DOJ says Bridges then provided training and guidance to purported ISIS fighters who were planning attacks, including advice about potential targets in New York City. Bridges also reportedly provided the OCE with portions of a U.S. Army training manual and guidance about military combat tactics, with the understanding that the materials would be used by ISIS in future attack planning. Juvenile arrested for weapons posession in Glynn County In or about December 2020, Bridges reportedly began to supply the OCE with instructions for the purported ISIS fighters on how to attack U.S. forces in the Middle East. Among other things, Bridges diagrammed specific military maneuvers intended to help ISIS fighters maximize the lethality of future attacks on U.S. troops, according to the DOJ. Bridges also reportedly provided advice about the best way to fortify an ISIS encampment to ambush U.S. Special Forces, including by wiring certain buildings with explosives to kill the U.S. troops. Then, in January 2021, Bridges provided the OCE with a video of himself in his U.S. Army body armor standing in front of a flag often used by ISIS fighters and making a gesture symbolic of support for ISIS, the DOJ said. Approximately one week later, Bridges reportedly sent a second video in which Bridges, using a voice manipulator, narrated a propaganda speech in support of the anticipated ambush by ISIS on U.S. troops. The FBI Washington, Atlanta, and Cleveland Field Offices investigated the case, with assistance provided by U.S. Army Counterintelligence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Georgia, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, and U.S. Army Third Infantry Division.